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Cedarville…

I wish I could say I was proud of my alma mater…

Despite my Lenten Facebook fast, I was made aware of the following post by my friend Marlena Graves. I thought I’d share it, just in case anyone is considering Cedarville as a choice for college. I’d still strongly recommend you attend another institution, where you can trust the administration. My previous thoughts on these matters still stand.

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“Dear friends,

“Every. Single. Week. I am contacted by people who attend and work at CU who are just miserable. I pray about what to say and what not to say; my motives aren’t malicious. This morning I was reading about Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and how he couldn’t believe that the Christians in Germany remained silent about Hitler or actively conspired with Hitler to get rid of the Jews. This situation at CU is no Germany. But faculty and staff at the school I loved are now forced into silence. They’re being oppressed. If they speak, they’ll lose their jobs. Their FB accounts and e-mails are monitored. A coup occurred at CU as it did at Southern Seminary, Southwestern Seminary, and Southeastern Seminary at the hands of Paige Patterson. Paige Patterson is now a trustee and mentor to the new president, Dr. White. Many who made decisions who fought to keep us and our friends (Bible profs/Carl Ruby and others) at the school told us that it was a coup. So the current administration doesn’t care about what fac/staff think. And students are there temporarily so….The chair of the board has said that he is willing to take the school down to 1200 to get their way. Shawn and I can afford to speak up because we didn’t sign a non-disclosure agreement. We are thriving and not bitter. But, I do get angry about how people are being treated. Thank God Shawn got a job right away and didn’t have to worry about providing for his family. Every single person who knows me will tell you I deliberate about my words. I am tired of the pain people are going through. And so I speak up because I can. I think this is the last chance for those currently there to give an outcry. Otherwise it’s over for them. They have moved to forbid egalitarians from teaching there, too. Next year, if you cannot say you are comp, you cannot work there. Only money and power can accomplish such a coup. I have no money or power. But, I have the freedom to speak up. So this below is just more evidence of what is going on. Students pray for your professors and staff. Many are suffering and can’t even tell you. Many of their jobs are on the line. They continue to clean house while silencing people. Pay attention to who is no longer there and from where they hire their new faculty. I’ve lost count of who is gone. People have to decide whether or not they’ll feed their families or speak up. So please, speak up on their behalf!

3 thoughts on “Cedarville…”

Cedarville continues to sadden me. As the doctrine becomes more narrow, so diversity dwindles. As our theology becomes more limited, genuine academic discourse disappears (at least for the Bible majors, if not all). As we become more specific in what “we” believe, we isolate and condemn beliefs outside our own. As this all takes place are pool of potential faculty becomes a puddle of American-white-maleness.

And despite all of this happening, despite Chariman Loren Scharnberg admitting he has an agenda, despite the testimony of faculty who have since left, people continue to act as though Cedarville has not changed course. We appeal to God’s sovereignty believing that God’s control means that all of Cedarville’s recent actions are approved by God, ignoring oppression and abandonment that breaks God’s heart. Ignoring that God’s sovereignty is not an excuse for sin.

People were fired. People were ushered out. People are silenced.

That is not what Christ looks like. That is not what the Kingdom of God looks like.

Pray for your faculty and staff, Cedarville. Pray for the Bible department. They deserve better.